While various devices have been suggested in the past for reducing the effort and mess often associated with the application of paste shoe polishes, such devices have been generally unsuccessful in fully accomplishing those goals or in achieving widespread consumer acceptance. Pre-impregnated applicator pads have been disclosed which are disposable after a single use; however, the pads themselves may be difficult to hold and use without causing some of the polish to come into direct contact with the user's hands. Daubers of various configurations have been marketed, in some cases along with or as part of containers for paste shoe polish but to the extent that such daubers have been reusable, at least until the supply of paste polish in the accompanying containers is exhausted, the likelihood that such reuse might result in polish coming into direct contact with the hands or clothing of users is substantial. Such problems may be less troublesome in the dispensing of liquid polishes rather than paste polishes, since liquids may be totally confined within the body of the applicator and dispensed as needed through the brush or porous dauber portion which extends across the outlet of the unit, but such a device tends more to avoid the problem rather than solve it since there is a continuing demand, and perhaps even a preference for, paste-type shoe polishes.
Patents illustrative of the state of the art are 3,369,267, 3,161,903, 3.006,023 and 2,888,133. Other patents of interest are 2,704,375, 2,755,497, 3,221,356, and 3,412,418.